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Please and Thank You: Do we Have Moral Obligations Towards Emotionally Intelligent Machines?

By Sonia Sethi

Do you say “thank you” to Alexa (or your preferred AI assistant)?

A rapid polling among my social media revealed that out of 76 participants, 51 percent thank their artificial intelligence (AI) assistant some or every time. When asked why/why not people express thanks, a myriad of interesting—albeit, entertaining—responses were received. There were common themes: saying thanks because it’s polite or it’s a habit, not saying thanks because “it’s just a database and not a human,” and the ever-present paranoia of a robot apocalypse.

But do you owe Alexa your politeness? Do you owe any moral consideration whatsoever? Read More